Current Courses

HUM 598/MUS 508Humanistic Perspectives on the Arts: Non-Specialists and the ArtsHow do non-specialists portray creative artists? What happens when professionals, amateurs, and critics mix? Fiction, poetry, and film often idealize the genius; they also demonize the faker. "Outsider" critics may enlighten experts. Trained artists reject expertise and seek authenticity. Activisim, stunts, and crime blur boundaries. A music scholar and a composer with interdisciplinary perspectives lead the seminar. In keeping with the topic, participants are urged to inspect, defend and question boundaries between their chosen fields and the arts.Scott G. BurnhamBarbara A. White

MUS 511/HLS 511Problems in Early Christian Music: Music and the Medieval MemoryCourse explores the art of memory in music culture from the ninth through the fourteenth century, and considers how medieval memory practices bridged oral and written domains of musical knowledge. Topics include the influence of mnemotechnics on: the oral transmission of chant; the early development of notation; theory treatises; composition; aesthetics; and spirituality. Course provides an introduction to the study of medieval musical manuscripts and notations, and familiarizes students with major research questions, tools, and methods for the study of the medieval culture of memory.Jamie L. Reuland

MUS 519Topics in Music from 1600 to 1800This seminar will focus on opera in seventeenth-century Venice, with emphasis on the works of Francesco Cavalli, whose works dominated the Venetian opera stage from the opening of the first public opera theaters in the late 1630s until his death in 1676. Issues to be considered include: sources and editing problems: librettos as literature and print culture; interpretative issues (including gender and sexuality); finances; stage design and machinery; performance practice; recent productions.Wendy Heller

MUS 531CompositionEmphasis will be placed upon the individual student's original work and upon the study and discussion of pieces pertinent to that work.Barbara A. WhiteDmitri TymoczkoDonnacha M. DennehyJuri Seo

MUS 537Points of Focus in 20th-Century MusicWe will explore solo piano repertoire and piano-centric compositions from the 19th century to present. Our aim is to understand the practical aspect of writing for piano and to make the best use of the skill sets possessed by classically trained pianists. The topics include chord voicing, register and resonance, fingering, finger speed, pedals, hand divisions, and piano figurations. Our primary focus will be on the conventional playing with fingers on the keys (with the nail side up), but we will occasionally venture into extended techniques.Juri Seo

MUS 542Instrumentation and PerformanceThe course is a study of the characteristics of individual instruments, including extended contemporary techniques and writing arrangements for chamber ensemble and for orchestra. Special attention is given to problems of combining voice and instruments. The arrangements written for this class are performed by the Composers' Ensemble at Princeton and the Princeton University Orchestra, and problems of performance involving notation, rehearsal, and conducting are dealt with.Dmitri Tymoczko

MUS 545Contexts of CompositionAnalyses of compositions by Louis Andriessen, Stravinsky, Vivier, Bach, and others in a broad context of compositional theory (harmony, etc.), literature, visual arts, and architecture. The influence of social matters, orchestras, ensembles, vocality, and improvisation on composing.Louis Andriessen

MUS 550Current Topics in Theory and Analysis: Semiotics of MusicA critical study of foundational works in musical semiotics (Nattiez, Lidov, Monelle and Hatten) followed by exercises in analytical application.V. Kofi Agawu